1. Does the four-weekend training cover both Part 1 and Part 2 of the basic EMDR training?
2. I am an intern who wants to register. Must my supervisor be EMDR trained?
Whether you are licensed as a psychotherapist or are an intern, you need to be working in a clinical setting where you will be able to practice the knowledge and skills you are learning in the EMDR basic training. Your supervisor need not be trained in EMDR, but must be supportive of your using EMDR with patients with posttraumatic stress and related syndromes such as phobias, panic attacks and symptoms of complex PTSD (DESNOS). As part of your application package, your supervisor will need to sign a letter to that effect. See the Registration Forms page for detailed guidance on this letter.
Supervisors do not need to be trained in EMDR to provide supervision for pre-licensed clinicians being trained in EMDR. Your clinical supervisor should have education and training in the assessment and treatment of those with PTSD, phobias, panic attacks and complex PTSD (DESNOS). If your clinical supervisor is familiar with any of the evidence based treatments and the community standards of care for these conditions, there generally should be no barrier to your use of EMDR for these conditions.
Karen Alter-Reid, Ph.D. Training provides written guidelines to assist you and your clinical supervisor in selecting cases suitable for application of EMDR during the training process. EMDR treatment follows general principles from consensus models for treating these conditions. Some pre-licensed clinicians have clinical supervisors trained in EMDR, however many of our interns have supervisors not yet trained in EMDR. Some clinical supervisors later decide to get training in EMDR after witnessing how clients of the pre-licensed clinicians they supervise progress as a result of treatment with EMDR.